Your Stand on Welfare

[Dr. Sweet NUPE]

In my Public Policy Ethics class we often discuss issues like Welfare, Healthcare, etc......On Monday I made the comment that there are more White people on welfare than black for the simple fact that there are more White people in America. I further went on to state that when we look at Welfare we count all minorities. This is a false number because within this "Count" we count Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, etc.......

This is where the debate came to a head. I said I am all for the Welfare to Work Program. Yet, this policy, i.e. program should be re-formulated whereas the federal government should assist people who are on welfare to go to college. With the way inflation is, minimum wage is just not enough. Yet critics of the welfare system always seem to focus on the negative aspects of welfare.

I'm curious what is your stand on Welfare?

Remember Welfare was created by President Rossevelt after the Great Depression as part of his "New Deal."

 

[Warndalyn]

I'm all for it, but with tight supervision. I think it's good for it's intention. Should one remain on welfare, NO. But of course, you'll have some that will abuse it just like anything else. With the gov't. monitoring it more closely, they'll be able to see who's on it and for how long. Offer some type of education assitance, motivation and/or job training. By a certain period of time, one should be ready for the workforce.

 

[limefree]

I have worked in one of the largest Welfare Systems in the United States for close to eight years.
There are people who definitely abuse it and they do get caught. There are also people who need it. Welfare to Work is what Welfare is about. There is a program Called GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence) which in Los Angeles County is the model Welfare to Work Program for the Nation. This program offers job readiness classes, employment assistance, educational assistance, child care etc.

Due to time limits, the major push is to get participants employed. They definitely have the opportunity to get a college degree if it can be completed within the time limits which I think for persons with dependants is 4 or 5 years.
The government has given states the power to determine how the money will be used.

There is also a program for persons without dependants in their custody and most of the recipients are male. It is called General Relief or General Assistance. In Los Angeles county someone can be on for 9 out of 12 months.

I can go on and on. Plain and simple the system works if a person can positively take advantage of it.

Southern University

 

[TSU/BAMA]

Welfare, for the most part is a great idea. Like anything else it gets abused. No way should it be done away with. But it sure needs to be reformed.

 

[MightyDog]

Is this another Liberal Republican trick question?

Please answer before I respond.

 

[Vinita]

Medicaid delivered my child and paid for her doctor's visits during her first year of life. WIC also kept us in milk, and everything we needed to eat, and food stamps kept the refrigerator fully stocked. All this while I lived with my parents.

I am not sure that constitutes "abuse" of the system, because I never lied about my living conditions, nor did I claim that my parents were making me pay rent to stay there. According to the state of Arkansas (at the time), I qualified because I was over 18, pregnant, and unemployed. By the time her benefits expired, I was a college graduate with a job and insurance for us both. To me, that is the way it is supposed to work.

I know people who plan the birth of their next child around the expiration of benefits for the youngest. Their arses need to be booted QUICKLY!

 

[ALJSU3]

I am all in favor of Welfare with stipulations. The program needs to be monitor very closely and every person receiving benefits should be allowed training of some sort so that they can ge off Welfare. I worked on a Welfare program called "Working Connnection" This program was incorporated for Non-Custodial Parents (Parents who doesn't have custody of their children, be it male or female). The program did not work because of poor management. I left the program under a lot of stress due to the fact that I did not agree with the way the recipients were being treated and the greed that took over from management. Management started using the $4.7 million dollars for their own self-gratification. I was appalled at the greed of these individuals. This program could have worked if it would have been supervised more closely. It had the making of doing some good things for people that really needed some help.

 

[MightyDog]

Two things that a country must take care is the poor and the Army. Why? Because power will not be given up. When only 15% of the wealthy control 85% of us; a system of control is established. The name of the game is control.

Today, you see a lot of those who had good jobs and were control by a system that took care of them are for the first time realizing nobody really needed them. Welfare and workfare are the same. The only difference is that workfare for some paid $100,000 yearly and workfare for others paid $6.00. Now you can figure out who made $100,000 and who is making $6.00 an hour.

Who gets the promotions on your jobs?
Who can afford better housing?
Who can attend the big time schools?
Who can determine where you live?

It all depends on how we see things. I don't want anyone telling me about welfare or workfare because I understand the system.

 

[Olde Hornet]

I am for the Welfare to Work program. Somehow we must solve the childcare problem for the working poor and for those attempting to come off of welfare. If you receive public assistance, you should work, if not in the private sector, then doing work for the public.

Unfortunately you did not continue your discussion of welfare. You should remove it from what is given to the poor, but what is given to the middle income and corporations. Here are a few examples:
Middle income Welfare
1. Tax deduction for Mortgage interest.
2. Free to minimum payments to enter National Parks

Middle to Upper Income Welfare
1. No Social Security taxes paid on income over $75,000 (I am not sure of the exact amount for 2001).
2. Foundations

Corporate Welfare
1. Farm subsidies that go to major corporations (not family farms where the bill creators say they are going).
2. Tax deductions (business expenses) for ?Corporate Boxes? at major sports arenas and fields

There are more examples and I am sure people can post them here, but I added this so you can expand the dialog about welfare, Its not just for the poor.

I am not taking a stance on any of these issues except of the Social Security Taxes issues, which I think is the biggest scam that most people in this country don?t know about. These are all examples of government giving money to people or businesses. The next time you are in class, expand the conversation. Welfare extends beyond the poor, educate you classmates and friends.

 

[pv_symbiotic]

I am for the Welfare program the way that it is. I tried like many others to get welfare when I was an undergraduate. I was shot down. I stood in a long line, while in this line I look at my surroundings. I watch a white guy in a suit get his food stamps. I knew that I would be getting approved. I was black and poor I thought that I met the requirements. I was wrong. I was mad and then I got over it.

I know that people always talk about negative aspects of the program and the people that are getting over on the government at the cost of the tax payers. You have some serious issues if you are going scream about people that have found a way to get more income, coming in. This program has helped way more people than those who are abusing it. There will always be some bad with the good especially in government programs. There is no easy way to clean this program up, besides trying to clean up the program will require more of your money and the program still won?t be corrected to everyone?s satisfaction.

I am a proponent of this Welfare program. This program has done great things for many people that I know and this program has helped me indirectly. You now friends that got food stamps and they saw me starving so that lent and helping hand out to me. It makes me laugh when the people that scream the loudest about doing away with that the program are the same people got over on the program.

If you got yours and you want to end the system, just shut the L up, so that the next person can get theirs.

If you didn?t get the hook up and you want to revamp or terminate the program because you feel that you don?t want pay for these people, then pack your stuff and move off this planet.

This is my unsolicited opinion.

 

[Killer Bees]

Unless you are handicapped, I am against welfare. If punishes those who produce and rewards those who don't produce.